We were obviously a little disappointed this year
(2008) when our traditional August summer vacation had to be
rescheduled for the first half of September. Still, we were looking
forward to the lighter off-season crowds and milder temperatures
for three days of climbing and hiking at
Grand Teton National Park.

With the temperatures still mildly warm in
Colorado, we underestimated the onset of the fall season
in Wyoming. Our first morning in the park, at the Signal Mountain
Campground, was cold! As I shivered and tried to warm my hands
around my four-shot camp-brewed espresso, I took a walk down the
slope to the shore of Jackson Lake to check out the view. The thin
layer of clouds developing around Mount Moran added a harsh kind of
beauty to the scene. We were planning to climb Symmetry Spire early
the next morning though, and the cold unstable looking conditions
across the lake were not encouraging.

Suzy had spent some time looking over the map the
day before, and wanted to check out Paintbrush Canyon, so we packed
some extra warm clothes and hit the road. Practically right off the
trailhead, I had the camera pulled out. This shot, from the east
side of String Lake, looks up at the northeast side of Teewinot
Mountain, as clouds continued to move in around the peaks.

We made it up to Holly Lake by noon, and
immediately put on our wind resistant jackets; even in the sun, the
breeze off the lake was cold. After a quick lunch, we left. Back
down out of the wind again, I stopped at the Holly Lake camp
area to get this shot looking down at Leigh and Jackson Lakes.

The next day, I suggested a hike up to Amphitheater
Lake. We had been most of the way up this trail by mistake back in
2003 - having taken a wrong turn to Garnet Canyon - so we knew how
beautiful the view of the Grand Teton was along the upper trail.
With that in mind, I was a little frustrated when after arriving at
the lake, the sky was completely overcast. Suzy brightened my day
though, when she noticed some movement in the rocks at the
southeastern corner of the lake. We walked around the shoreline and
watched the
marmots and
pikas
scampering around for about 30 minutes
before we got cold enough to start heading back down.

As we zigzagged down the switchbacks below
Amphitheater Lake, we came across this buck feeding off to the side
of the trail, obviously comfortable around hikers.

A little further down, we ran across a couple of
discouraged East Coast climbers. They had been camped out for a
couple days waiting for the weather to improve around the Grand
Teton summit, but it hadn't. While we sympathized with them, it
made us feel a little better about our decision to give up Symmetry
Spire.

On our third and final day in the park, we hiked
around at Colter Bay, in the area of Swan Lake. This is supposed to
be a great area for wildlife viewing, but while we had hoped to catch
a glimpse of a moose, or even a bear, our only sighting, besides all
the goofy squirrels, was a distant view of a
Great Blue Heron.
This pond full of lily pads was my best photo subject of the day.